I was busy planning my mum's imminent arrival for most of August. She was due to arrive on the 22nd We still managed to fit in a few things though. Rob had very kindly received a Red Letter Days voucher from his work mates during his hospital stay. We had decided to both go on the "Spy Games Day" out at Milton Keynes. We arranged it for the 20th August, the Saturday. It was a really fun day. We started with axe throwing, which I was utterly hopeless at, but Rob was very good. Then we went onto the automatic rifles, shooting little balls at man-shaped targets. The instructor was either impressed or scared that I managed to hit the guy in the head every time. After the automatic rifles were the sniper rifles, which we shot from behind barriers like real snipers. We then played a game like laser strike with the other teams, where we had to shoot people from behind barrels and wore helmets that told us when we were dead. Pistol draws were next, and once we had learnt how to draw our weapons we had a competition of who could draw theirs the fastest.
Rob and I got into the top five, but were thwarted by the YMCA round - I got M which is by far the hardest letter to draw your pistol from! Unarmed combat was next - learning how to disarm you would-be assailant when they are intent on stabbing you. And last but not least, surveillance, where they showed us all of the tiniest bugs and cameras you can get.
Crazily, we had organised something else with our friend Flynn that night - an all-night marathon of all three Lord of the Rings movies in a row at the BFI Imax. It started at midnight and ended at around 10 on the Sunday. We managed to have a nap after the Spy Games and before the movie, so managed to stay up throughout the marathon. It was actually quite good seeing them all in one go but we were shattered the next day. I had to get up very early on Monday to go and meet Mum at the airport so it wasn't the best idea, but I managed to get up at 5 and got to Heathrow in good time. It was then that I noticed that her plane was delayed for over an hour... Luckily I had brought my Kindle.
Finally Mum turned up. Her and her sister and brother-in-law had been for a stop-over in Singapore before flying to London, so the flight was at least broken up, but they had been kept waiting a really long time with the delay - so we were all pretty tired!
Lor and Nor were going onto France while Mum had her 3 weeks with me, so we all said good-bye. Then I made the executive decision to get a cab as the Picadilly Line had severe delays and I was more than fed up with waiting.
I had made an appointment for us to have a fish pedicure as Mum had said she wanted to try it, and by the time we got home it was already time to leave to make the appointment.
We made our way to the appointment which was practically in Barnes, and had our fish pedicure. Then we went to Kingston and met Rob for lunch, and had a stroll around and a look in the shops.
Tuesday was unfortunately not quite the scorcher it was on Monday. It was quite drizzly and cool. I figured it would be a good day to go to the Tower of London. Mum loved it. We saw the Armoury, the Crown Jewels. the Royal Menagerie exhibition, the towers the prisoners were kept in, and Mum's favourite - the torture chamber!
After we were finished at the Tower we looked at more touristy things on the way to dinner - like Trafalger Square and the Olympic Countdown clock. We had dinner at Joe Allen in Covent Garden - it was a voucher deal - and extremely good. We both had a starter of quails eggs and then a Portobello mushroom burger, followed by dessert. Then I had tickets for Phantom of the Opera - because Rob and I had such dismal seats last time we went I looked on Seatmonkey to find the best seats this time around. It was much better - we could see everything that happened on the stage and above it. After the show we wandered through Soho and showed Mum Leicester Square (not at it's best with scaffolding blocking the entire middle) and couldn't resist the terribleness of M&M World.
The plan on Wednesday was to go and see the Changing of the Guards. But as seems to be my luck with this, when we went to have a look the sign proclaimed no Changing that day. We walked around the corner wondering what to do next and then on a whim decided to have a look in Buckingham Palace. We didn't realise how long the line was until we were in it, and by the time we were in it we decided we might as well stick it out... I'm glad we did too. We decided to get tickets to the Royal Mews as well.
Our ticket for the Palace wasn't for over an hour so we went into the Royal Mews first. It is absolutely lovely. The place is like a tiny village - everyone that works there is born into it. It is where all the working Coaches and horses are kept. We learnt about all the different coaches - the Scottish, the Australian... (the Queen's favourite has good shocks, air conditioning and electric windows), and saw a couple of horses - the rest were on their holidays in the countryside.
The Queen has two types of horses in her stables - the Cleveland Bays and the Windsor Greys. They weren't being very co-operative for photos though...
Once we were in the Palace we weren't allowed to take photos unfortunately. We saw all the beautiful State Rooms, the Throne room where the official wedding portraits were taken, and of course the main attraction - The Dress. It was in a special display in the Ballroom, along with samples of the fabric and a documentary playing about how the dress was made. Even the Wedding Cake was on display. Once we were out in the Palace Gardens we were allowed to take a photo.
After we'd had our fill of the palace, we took a walk through the touristy areas and then went to Hyde Park Corner where I showed Mum the New Zealand memorial.
After that we went to Covent Garden and looked at the market and watched the buskers, then I had to show Mum Carnaby Street... We had pie and mash for dinner in a little place off Carnaby Street.
On Thursday I went to work and Mum had a wander round Putney and walked around the Thames from Putney Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge. I showed her B@1 and introduced her to the Disco Biscuit.
Friday we were very excited to be off to Berlin to catch up with Nick, Sarah and baby Remy Blue. I had met Remy when we were in Christchurch and I couldn't wait to see him again. Rob was to join us on Saturday. We flew into Berlin and decided to get a taxi from the airport. The driver either didn't or pretended to no speak English so we had to play a bit of a game of pidgeon German, but we got there uneventfully. It was over 30 degrees, beautiful weather. Nick and Sarah's flat was in Schoenenberg, a nice little area with a lot of families around so lots of playgrounds and Kinders around. Little kids were all around, playing in water fountains in the nud. Their flat was huge by London standards, 3 bedrooms with massively thick walls and a view across the street into the leafy park across the road. Remy was very excited to see us, especially Nanny who he had skyped with quite a bit. We went to an outdoor pizza place for dinner that was like a giant sandpit with deck chairs and children playing all over the place. Remy had a ball, except for when he got stung on the leg by a wasp. Mum took great pleasure in ordering a beer so she could tell Kevy all about it when she got home (in fact she developed quite a taste for it and even started stealing Dad's Steinlagers when she got home!).
The next day we waited for Rob to arrive and then went out and about Berlin! We had to see the part of the wall remaining first, of course. Although there are only fragments, you can get a (tiny) idea of what it must have been like. There was a guy selling fake border passports. It was a short walk to the Jewish Memorial, which is an amazing sculpture. You can get lost in it.
We saw most of the sights, including the Reichstag, although we didn't go into it. We went through the Brandenburg Gate and saw a Biker's convention in the square through the other side. The hotel Adlon was there too - the very same hotel that Michael Jackson hung Blanket out of. In the Tiergarten opposite the Gate we bought an amazing cheesy pretzel which we all devoured, then we watched the giant bubble lady. Jen was in Berlin at the same time, so we met up with her and she spent the rest of the day with us.
We weren't bothered about doing too much more sight-seeing - we were just happy to be hanging out with each other. So on Sunday Nick and Sarah took us to a lovely park and we wandered down the path by the river, buying an enticing-smelling bag of mini donuts, then finding a lovely restaurant on a boat with pork knuckle(!). For some reason I didn't get the pork knuckle but had some of Rob and Sarah's (they shared one). I got fish, along with Mum and Nick. Rob and Sarah also got amazing ice cream sundaes and I got some cheesecake - it was nice but I must admit there was some food envy going on.
The next day was nice and sunny and before we left Nick said we had to take the bikes to Schoenenberg Park to have a look. It was a short bike ride to the place, which is an old airport that is no longer used as an airport and was given to the people to use as a public park. It was glorious hooning along the runways on our bikes pretending to be planes. we found an old plane behind a fence with an eagle perched on top, which was very cool - he let us get incredibly close. We made our way back to Nick and Sarah's place and sadly got ready to head back to the airport, after lots of hugs and kisses with my gorgeous nephew.
Tuesday was another day at work for me, and then Wednesday we were off to Windemere!
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